The Board of Regents met remotely in June because of ongoing travel restrictions and safety concerns for staff and board members.
• The meeting was opened with Stephanie Levine, President; Steve Simpson, President-Elect; and Robert Musacchio, CEO/EVP discussing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Business Continuity Planning. The COVID-19 Task Force, chaired by Steve Simpson, continues to meet weekly to identify emerging content needs toward supporting membership and their patients through the pandemic, connecting with the Education Committee and Foundation to ensure robust coverage, drawing on the expertise of the NetWorks for content development, and leveraging the Social Media Workgroup for dissemination. Key activities include: a regular Thursday webinar series at 3:00 pm CDT titled: “Advice From the Front Lines”; clinical resources in the form of infographics and guides are posted in the resource center and circulated through social media; Alex Niven, MD FCCP, led a team to develop a wellness curriculum and series; the CHEST Foundation developed patient education videos and guides, a public service announcement in partnership with the American Thoracic Society, and a pilot partnership with AMITA Health enabling access to telehealth.
• The Finance Committee, chaired by John Howington, reported that CHEST is on track to meet its budget and exceed its debt covenants and operating reserve policy for the current fiscal year. The record attendance at the October 2019 annual meeting, along with strong performance from our digital offerings offset the financial impacts of the global pandemic. Bob Musacchio, CEO/EVP, reminded the Board why CHEST is switching from a fiscal year to calendar year budget. A calendar year budget process creates better alignment with budgets of pharma, other clients, and vendors; facilitates various accruals that are based on the calendar year, such as benefits, vacation, sick, and PTO days; provides for greater continuity for doing business throughout the year, and permits more planning time for staff in setting individual goals related to the annual meeting.
• CHEST’S Digital Transformation strategy that kicked off in 2019 was timely considering the pandemic. With education as one of our main foci, CHEST has hired and onboarded a Chief Learning Officer, Jim Young, to actively examine how we develop and deploy our educational products and services. Our first movement toward remote meetings occurred on June 26 with the Virtual Congress originally slated for Bologna, Italy. Here, we piloted a new platform and brought to life the tenets established in the new learning strategy—providing choice, demonstrating responsiveness, and fostering connection.
• CHEST’s Governance Committee reviewed the College bylaws for revisions, as per the group’s practice every 2-3 years, and the Board approved the revisions to the bylaws as proposed by the committee.
• CHEST’s newly formed Health Policy and Advocacy Committee (HPAC), chaired by Neil Freedman, MD, FCCP, is holding monthly meetings with a goal of making a recommendation to the Board of Regents on CHEST’s regulatory and policy priorities during the August meeting. The HPAC assists CHEST leadership and the BOR in developing and implementing health policy positions, setting chest advocacy agendas in the legislative and regulatory arenas, engaging with policymakers as directed by the BOR, and educating CHEST members of government affairs relevant to CHEST’s mission. The HPAC is currently setting its priorities to bring to the BOR for approval later this summer. Areas of focus include home mechanical ventilation and competitive bidding access to in education four home auction therapy, only rehabilitation and tobacco vaping education,
• Peter Mazzone, MD, FCCP; Editor in Chief, CHEST journal, reviewed his editorial team, which now consists of three Deputy Editors, nine Associate Editors, an Assistant Editor, a Statistical Editor, and three Case Series Editors and the publishing staff and partners.
The Board’s next meetings will be a scheduled teleconference in August, followed by their meeting that will occur concomitantly with the CHEST meeting in October.